Farm Taaza raises $8 million from Epsilon, Tara India

The funds raised will be used to expand across south India, since the startup right now has operational centres in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ooty.Shashwati Shankar | ET Bureau | October 06, 2017, 00:12 IST

Farm Taaza, a business-to business agritech player operating in the fresh produce supply chain segment, has raised $8 million in a series-A funding round led by the Hong Kong-based Epsilon Venture Partners, Tara India Fund IV, which is managed by IL&FS Investment Managers, among existing investors.

The funds raised will be used to expand across south India, since the startup right now has operational centres in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ooty. The money will be used to make technological upgrades as well. The startup currently gets over 200 orders a day from clients and supplies which translates roughly to 20 tonnes on a daily basis.

“We want to enable a seamless supply chain from farm to store and our next focus will be to leverage machine learning, AI and data analytics for improved decision making,” said Kumar Ramachandran, CEO of Farm Taaza. The company gets over 60% of its revenues from kirana stores and the rest from modern retail outlets. The company saw Rs 19 crore in revenues in 2016 and expects to see Rs 35 to Rs 40 crore in revenues in 2017.

Farm Taaza caters to over 1,400 farmers and supplies 150 varieties of fruits and vegetables to clients including hotels and hospitals. The company is also focusing on reducing wastage that comes from supplying fruits and vegetables to different destinations by improving the efficiency in the supply chain process.

“The greatest potential comes from the digitisation of its supply chain — automation, data management, collaborative planning and forecasting, smart sourcing and product tracking, all of which make Farm Taaza more responsive, agile and transparent,” said Mahesh Vaidya, general partner, Epsilon Venture Partners.